miniB 11sp belt drive Folding Bike

The Ultimate 16" wheel super compact folder

This 16 inch mini folding bike is our smallest and lightest folding bike making it perfect for travel. It's super compact size allows it to fit in the trunk of a vehicle or into a standard sized suitcase. It comes with a Shimano Alfine 11sp Shimano internal hub and a Gates CDX belt drive system. This is the best drivetrain on any folding bike. The gear range on the 11sp has a whopping 408% gear range which is perfect for the hills and flats. The mini 11 also adds light action trigger shifters, 2.2" wide tires for comfort, and crank with integrated bottom bracket which is highly efficient and external bearings make it super stiff.

It is super lightweight because everything on the bike is aluminum and the Belt employs a lightweight Gates Carbon belt and cogs. You will really fall in love with the idea of having frames made from lightweight aluminum, and bag interface on the headtube ( we have custom head tube bags ). We are now including free rack, kickstand, and rear fender. The rack is perfect to carry loads, and the rear fender will keep you clean even when the terrain gets dirty. A font fender is not necessary since the frame will act as a front fender.

The Tekro V brakes in combination with the machined-sidewall rims are quality and make the bike stop super fast.

Rear derailleurs are known to be the weakest link on a bicycle, removing it makes the entire system stronger and more vibrant. Additionally, by using a belt system it is grease-free, hence there can never be a black streak on your leg, and you need not worry about messing up any place you leave your bike. Shifting will be butter smooth as is standard with Shimano's high end internal hub systems. Overall, this mini bike is really small, light and the drive train is nearly maintenance-free. This is the ideal bike for a boaters, RV'rs, rail and for airport travel.

3 Reviews

5/5

ReviewerSep 4th 2017

Downtube Mini 11 speed, Awesome bike and Customer Service

I would definitely recommend this bike! It is very fun to ride. Quiet, clean and fast. After researching folding bikes I decided that I wanted one that could be packed in regular checkable airline baggage (not oversized) and that had a belt drive and an internal hub geared for climbing hills. The Downtube Mini is one of only two options that I found on the current market that meets these requirements (apparently Bike Friday just released a new bike, called the “Pakit”, but it is 2-3 times the cost of the Mini and I haven’t seen any reviews on it at this point). Here is a list of the concerns that I had about buying a Downtube Mini and what I learned: 1) The bike would be too small for me (I am 6 feet tall). It fits me just fine with extension of neck/stem and the longer seat post. 2) The bike would not climb hills well as I live Tacoma Washington which is very hilly. With the Alfine 11 hub the bike is geared low enough to tackle the steepest hills in my area. 3) It might not fold well into regular airline baggage (so I would incur additional charges for checking oversized baggage). The mini fits well into the Samsonite F’lite hardcase. I did have to disassemble the bike at the neck and frame hinges but it is not hard to do. Takes about 10 minutes to disassemble and pack or to unpack and reassemble. 4) Parts would be hard to replace/find. According to Yan, only the frame and forks are proprietary so replacement parts should be found easily. 5) Customer service might be a challenge since the bikes are not found or commonly serviced in bike stores. Yan is great! He answers e-mails promptly, is easy to reach by phone and is very helpful in solving problems. I had a loose neck on the Mini when it arrived and he replaced it with a new one without issues. There is a potential downside for those who like to use rear rack panniers. Panniers on the rear racks of 16” wheeled bicycles tend to hit the heels of the rider as they pedal (this is not unique to Downtube). There are makeshift solutions to this such as moving the rack backwards (using some hardware and creativity) but the easier solution is to replace the stock rack with a seatpost mounted rear rack with a quick release. This puts the pannier higher and further back so your heel doesn’t hit the pannier. This is what I do and it works just fine. It does create an additional step when folding the bike (you have to loosen the quick release of the rack before lowering the seat post) but it is very fast. How does the Mini compare to a Brompton? Bromptons seem to be the easiest/fastest folding bikes on the market and the most compact when folded. However, I believe that the Downtube Mini 11 speed is a better bicycle especially for the price. The Brompton costs at least $600 more and that would only get you a 6 speed hub. I test road a 6 speed brompton at a local Seattle bike shop this week and I could not climb the steep hills next to the shop. But with the Mini I could. I have heard that Brompton can be customized to have “mountain gearing”(lower gears) but I don’t know how low the gears go and what the added cost would be for that option. To summarize, the Downtube Mini 11 speed is a great folding bicycle and at a good price.

5/5

Product ReviewerSep 4th 2017

Downtube mini 11 Folding Bike

Really enjoying riding this great bike. Everything working fine on the bike. I usually ride 7-10 miles 5 days per week. Really a good idea to tighten everything up after you unpack the bike and make sure everything is adjusted right. May want to have a bike mechanic do this if you are uncomfortable doing this yourself. Thanks for the fast ship and fast responses to my questions.

5/5

DONALD GULOIENSep 4th 2017

Excellent

I ordered two mini11's. They came very well packaged, in perfect condition, and were easy to assemble. Excellent recommendations and service from Yan. Only one trivial recommendation: manual reads "calibrate with shifter in 4th gear" but for 11 speed, it should be in 6th gear. Also, manual could use more photos. But they are beautiful bikes, well made, the ALFINE gearing us vastly superior to a derailleur for a folding bike, and so is the Gates belt drive. Totally clean, no oily, dirty or greasy chain, no derailleur to get bent or broken. These bikes will be stored in the engine room on our boat. The small size, foldable pedals, belt drive and Alfine gears make it clean and safe to store with minimal maintenance. Alfons is also much easier to use for less-technical people (e.g.my wife) than derailleur gearing. I was going to order a similarly equipped bike from a competitor. It would have been twice the price. Fortunately, they were out of stock, so we ended up getting the Downtube mini11's, at essentially two for the price of one, and am totally satisfied. I ride two Cervelos, two Montagues and a host of Treks for other purposes. This is PERFECT for the boat, car or plane.